With the closed alpha test going on we are closer than ever to a solid alpha version of the game. It is holidays now and I too spent a good ten hours playing the game myself. It is pretty fun to play already but there is a lot more we need to add. Anyway, here is a short report on how the game is now.


Combat
Combat feels very solid and is actually a lot of fun. We plan to add a lot more different weapon systems and especially active devices (such as EMP generators or such). This will make combat even more different each time you engage in combat with someone. Our goal here is to make each and every encounter with enemy feel and play different.

Skill system and skill trees
We are super happy how skill system in general turned out. It is extremely rewarding advancing your character down the skill trees and getting more and more stuff available to you.


Asteroid mining
While still a placeholder it is fully functional now. The way asteroid mining works now is you extracting minerals from the asteroids directly by using different mining equipment. You can make a decent money and get some extra EXP for your character by mining. Later during development we will completely overhaul this system though. We plan on adding many other interesting steps to this process such as refining of ore and such.

Xengatarn
Aliens. You can now actually rid the galaxy of them. It is possible to visit their systems and work your way through their territory and slowly liberate all systems controlled by them. I will not go into more details here but it's pretty fun fighting them. Here is a little screenshot though.


Networking and performance
Networking is really good now. The game runs perfect even with 200-300 ping. We spent a good deal of time polishing the protocol and switched from TCP-IP to UDP.
Performance is decent, but there is a looooong way ahead for improvement. I will not stop until the game runs at 60 fps at my old laptop at home :)

Overal
The game is progressing very nicely. We are super happy how everything develops! And I hope you can soon enjoy the game too!